Write me a song (a sort of challenge)

Subject: BS: Write me a song (a sort of challenge)
From: mousethief
Date: 07 Jan 03 - 12:09 AM

Okay, here's the scoop: we had an adventure over the holidays and still don't have a song or a shanty (sp?) to sing about it.

We were just finishing up eating Christmas dinner, and the 19yo went downstairs to play video games. He came running back upstairs and said there was a waterfall in the 15yo's bedroom.

Sure enough, my dad and I went downstairs and there was water falling from the door frame from her room. We looked upstairs, and the only thing directly above the doorframe is a radiator. So we turned off the supply at the boiler for that radiator, and the water slowly trickled to a stop.

We went back upstairs and started to do the dishes. My mom and my wife were rinsing dishes prior to putting them into the dishwasher. Suddenly the 19yo comes running back upstairs again and says, "Now it's a regular flood!"

We go back downstairs and indeed it's pouring in there. It has also started leaking from the light fixture.

My dad says we have to shut the furnace down and I note that it's not even on. We look at each other and scratch our heads (our own, not each others').

Then we realize what had changed -- the dishwashing! We run upstairs and ask the ladies to stop rinsing dishes. They do, and the water slows to a trickle.

I get everything red I can find and pour it down the sink. Red food color, beet juice -- everything. Sure enough, in about an hour the light fixture starts dripping red-tinted water.

The next day we call the insurance company and they say go ahead and call a plumber -- I'll pay for the plumber, and the insurance company will pay to put the walls back together. The plumber comes out later that afternoon, cuts a hole in the ceiling of the downstairs bedroom, and finds the kitchen drain pipe right where he cuts the hole (how do those guys do that?!) and indeed it has rusted through in several spots. He fixes the pipes and leaves the holes he cut in the ceiling and wall to be fixed by the contractor dude the insurance company sends out. Cost so far: $550.

The insurance guy and the contractor guy come the next day. The insurance guy says he'll send us a check for the electricity and water we used to wash the towels we used to mop up the mess (!) and for a couple of books that were ruined. The contractor says he can start work "next week" (that's this week now).

So surely our award-winning songwriters can turn this merry adventure into a rollicking tune that we can sing for our grandchildren, should we ever have grandchildren?

Coveted BMD's (bronze mouse droppings) as always for all participants. Golden Mouse Wheels with Alcoholic Crests (of varying worth) to be handed out when the entries trickle to a stop (so to speak).

Alex

Subject: RE: BS: Write me a song (a sort of challenge)
From: Gareth
Date: 07 Jan 03 - 02:37 AM

Or yer could CLICK 'ERE, and select :-
"The Gasman Cometh"

Gareth

Subject: RE: BS: Write me a song (a sort of challenge)
From: Genie
Date: 07 Jan 03 - 03:28 AM

Have to give this one some thought, Alex. Wow! Whadda Christmas!
(Hope it was a good one, aside from that!)

Genie

Subject: RE: BS: Write me a song (a sort of challenge)
From: mousethief
Date: 09 Jan 03 - 09:49 AM

refresh

Subject: RE: BS: Write me a song (a sort of challenge)
From: Noreen
Date: 09 Jan 03 - 10:06 AM

That is a saga indeed, Mousethief!

Subject: RE: BS: Write me a song (a sort of challenge)
From: MMario
Date: 09 Jan 03 - 10:32 AM

CHRYSTMAS LEAKE
(Tune:Westron Wynd)

Chrystmas Leake, when wilt thou drype?
The small drype down can droppe
Christ it's floodyng down agayn
And I cannot make it stoppe

From the door the water came
a dripping from the frame
Above it but a heater filled
with liquid of the same

chorus:

The valves were turned, The volume slowed
we thought we had it made
Until from out the chandelier
The waterfall then came

chorus

Then in the sink, like blood or wine
the red dye it was placed
And but sixty minutes hence
Pink water the ceiling graced

Chorus

Subject: RE: BS: Write me a song (a sort of challenge)
From: Amos
Date: 09 Jan 03 - 10:46 AM

ALex:

I'lda come up with something for ya in a New York minute, but I am fresh out of 'em just now; but I celebrate your heroic remedies in the face of disaster, and pepper the aether with praiseful and admiring thoughts flung in your general direction!! That'll have to do for the nonce...

A

Subject: RE: BS: Write me a song (a sort of challenge)
From: mousethief
Date: 09 Jan 03 - 11:06 PM

Thank you, MMario! A coveted BMD for this moysste quatrain:

Chrystmas Leake, when wilt thou drype?
The small drype down can droppe
Christ it's floodyng down agayn
And I cannot make it stoppe

Alex

Subject: RE: BS: Write me a song (a sort of challenge)
From: Stephen L. Rich
Date: 10 Jan 03 - 12:51 AM

If the contractor hasn't come yet the adventure isn't half over.
Write the song when the contractor is done and you find out whether or not the insurance company comes through.

You're right, though. It DOES need to be turned into a song.

Stephen Lee

Subject: RE: BS: Write me a song (a sort of challenge)
From: Matt_R
Date: 10 Jan 03 - 01:22 AM

Good God, up there in Washington I thought falling water was an everyday experience. Ho ha ho.

Subject: RE: BS: Write me a song (a sort of challenge)
From: mg
Date: 10 Jan 03 - 01:23 AM

you're right..falling water, dripping water, flooding water, misting water..we got it all. mg

Subject: RE: BS: Write me a song (a sort of challenge)
From: Kaleea
Date: 10 Jan 03 - 02:59 AM

Everybody get out your oldest guitar/dobro, & try yer basic old time hammer on the E7/A7/B7 laid back slow-so's-I-can-learn-them-licks-Blues on the gee-tar with these words: (oh yeah! uh, remember that in the blues, one may spit out the lyrics as fast or slow as needed to make them fit the blues! oh, yeah, one more thing, remember dat de blues ain't always grammatically correct! & watch out for the "big finish!")

      De Waterfall for Christmas Blues
E7                              
Had Christmas dinner,
A7                   E7
goin' to m' couch to flop;
A7
Had Christmas dinner,
                      E7
goin' t m' couch to flop;
    B7                                    
m' nineteen year ol'downstairs in his room,
A7          E7      B7
   hears ker-PLOP!


E7
Run to m' little girl's room,
      A7                      E7
    Sonny's screamin' "waterfall!"
A7
Run to m' little girl's room,
      
    Sonny's screamin' "waterfall!"
B7
Race upstairs n shut off de ra-dee-a-tor,
       A7                            B7
       Ain't no drips from de wall.   
E7
Ma's in de kitchen,
   A7                   E7
    I get m' nap after all;
A7
Ma's in de kitchen,
                        E7
    I get m' nap after all;
B7
Den I wakes up hearin' shoutin',
   A7                      E7    B7
    When dey screams "waterfall!"

E7
Stop washin' dem dishes, Ma!
    A7                         E7
    an' shut off dat water, I call!
A7
Stop washin' dem dishes, Ma!
                               E7
    an' shut dat water off, I call!
B7
Guess I'll get out m' phone book,
A7                           E7   B7
   n' give m' insurance man a call.

E7
"No problem, Bubba," sez de man,
    A7                            E7
"call de plumber, & we pay him off."
A7
"No problem, Bubba," sez de man,
                                 E7
"call de plumber, & we pay him off."
B7
    Well, I called out dat plumber,
A7                                 E7
    But dat insurance man ripped ME off!

E7
Oh, I ain't done no nappin'
A7                      E7
    I got dem Waterfall blues.
A7
   Yeah, I ain't done no nappin'
A7                     E7
    I got dem Waterfall blues.
B7
    I done paid dat plumber,
    (big finish here--stretch it out & really moan!!)
    A7
      An' de man layin' down dere under de waterfall . . .
            
                     (pause for effect!)
                                             E7 B7 E7
                     wearin' cee-me-e-e-ent shoes!

Subject: RE: BS: Write me a song (a sort of challenge)
From: MMario
Date: 10 Jan 03 - 12:48 PM

YES! Got me a BMD to go with my BLOB's!

Subject: RE: BS: Write me a song (a sort of challenge)
From: mousethief
Date: 10 Jan 03 - 09:44 PM

Well done, Kaleea! Here's your coveted BMD for this very heavy stanza:

Oh, I ain't done no nappin'
I got dem Waterfall blues.
Yeah, I ain't done no nappin'
I got dem Waterfall blues.
I done paid dat plumber,
(big finish here--stretch it out & really moan!!)
An' de man layin' down dere under de waterfall . . .
(pause for effect!)
wearin' cee-me-e-e-ent shoes!

Way to go!

Um, Mmario, don't spend that all in one place now.

Alex

Subject: RE: Write me a song (a sort of challenge)
From: MMario
Date: 13 Jan 03 - 10:31 AM

a wee bit of polish and it will sure look nice settin' on the mantel

Subject: RE: Write me a song (a sort of challenge)
From: Bert
Date: 13 Jan 03 - 10:55 PM

Aw, that's just every day stuff.

If you want to have fun at Christmas, have an oven that packs up on Christmas morning. There's the turkey, the ham, The Yorkshire Pud, all sitting there and no bloody oven.

Subject: RE: Write me a song (a sort of challenge)
From: Schantieman
Date: 14 Jan 03 - 05:06 AM

Yorkshire pudding with turkey?!

Subject: RE: Write me a song (a sort of challenge)
From: mousethief
Date: 14 Jan 03 - 09:43 AM

Actually the number of "ovens giving out on Christmas day" stories I've heard is well over the number that fits comfortably on the fingers of one hand.

Alex

Subject: RE: Write me a song (a sort of challenge)
From: Schantieman
Date: 15 Jan 03 - 08:47 AM

Ours did on the first Christmas in a new house. Fortunately there were only two of us and there was a 'top oven' as well, so the venison casserole went in there!

S

Subject: RE: Write me a song (a sort of challenge)
From: Bert
Date: 16 Jan 03 - 04:02 AM

Of course Schantieman, I've Anglicized this family a little. Roast potatoes and Yorkshire pud on every possible occasion. Oh and we had fourteen to cook for.

Hey mousethief, so I'm not alone then, that's good.

Subject: RE: Write me a song (a sort of challenge)
From: mousethief
Date: 17 Jan 03 - 10:22 PM

One year we had an area-wide power outage on Christmas. Lotsa people tried to roast their turkeys in the gas grill. Lotsa people got food poisoning.

Alex